1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cutting and boring tools and, more specifically, an improved cutting tip shape for improving tool life and/or cutting performance.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Virtually every industry requires the periodic piercing of various materials to form openings for any number of reasons including ventilation or fluid circulation, for acceptance or cooperation with other structures, and/or for passage of other structures such as fasteners. Understandably, these are only but of few of the reasons commonly encountered and associated with perforating a particular material or structure. It is further appreciated that, as being applicable across a plethora of industries, such motivations are applicable to various types and shapes of the respective material.
A plethora of drill bits are known for various applications and for use with virtually any material. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that every drill has a useable life wherein the drill will adequately cut the underlying material, will negligibly deform the material during the drilling operation, and maintain a suitable operating temperature during the drilling process. Those skilled in the art equally appreciate that a worn or consumed boring or drilling tool will require excessive downward force for subsequent drilling operation, requires increased torsional loading to effectuate the drilling operation, can create unacceptable mushrooming or blowout of the substrate material near the hole site, and/or can generate unacceptable temperatures that can detrimental effect both the tool, the material of the substrate, and the quality of the perforation.
After an initial use period, some users attempt to extend the usable lift of a worn tool by restoring the shape of the cutting tip to a sharpened edge. Periodically, some worn tools can be re-sharpened in such a manner but it is readily appreciated that such processing of the tooling achieves only a very limited usability of the tooling beyond the original projected usable life of the tool, can detrimentally affect the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) finishing of the cutting tool, and can generate undesirable heat in the tool and particularly the cutting edge during the sharpening operation. Commonly, such post manufacture processes can only remotely approximate the quality of the initial OEM cutting tip shape and configuration. Periodically, such attempts can even detract from the performance of the tooling due in part to the reconfiguration and/or heat treatment of the cutting tip. Additionally, such processes are susceptible to individualization of the tooling as a function of the skill of the respective user or technician attempting the sharpening process and can detrimentally affect the repeatability associated with hole formation during subsequent use of the respective tooling. Accordingly, such processes provide only limited, if any, extension of the usable life of the respective tool.
It is further appreciated that the profitability and efficiency of any industry that relies heavily upon drilling operations can be substantially affected by drilling tools that degrade and/or are too quickly consumed during normal use. Tooling that is consumed too quickly during normal use results in increased operator time associated with tooling changes, increases manufacturing costs due to the increased consumption of tooling, can increase the wear associated with operation of the tool driving devices, decreases part throughput and process times, and negatively contributes to the overall efficiency of part production and manufacture.
It would therefore, rather than providing yet another post manufacture cutting tool sharpening tool or system, be desirable to provide a boring tool such as a drill bit that is configured to better withstand the forces associated with drilling operations and to do so in a manner that does not substantially increase the cost associated with production of such tooling. It would also be desirable to provide a drill bit with an improved operating life and which does not materially affect the quality of the substrate proximate a hole site.